


Courage and Heartache

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: YoI Ships Bingo [11]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: F/M, Georgi's Horrible Relationship Skills, M/M, Viktor As Mentor, minor viktuuri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-14 19:31:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11789934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: Years later, Viktor would look back on this moment with regret.  At the time, though, he had no idea what would happen.





	Courage and Heartache

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Phayte](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phayte/gifts).



> Written for YoI Ship Bingo  
> Square: Viktor/Georgi
> 
> [Prompt:](https://hellsdemonictrinity.tumblr.com/post/160523410875/angstfluff-prompt-list) 86\. “Don’t be scared, I’m right here.”
> 
> Thanks to Phayte for the suggestion!

He and Georgi were close in age, but the difference in their lives sometimes made Viktor feel a million years older instead of just one day. By the time they were twenty-four, Viktor had made quite his share of conquests, lost his heart once or twice only to get it back in pieces, and surviving the second one convinced him that there wasn’t much anyone could do to him that would hurt worse.

Georgi, it would seem, didn’t share that philosophy, if the way he’d been staring at one of the ice dancers was anything to go by. Viktor plopped down beside him on the bench. “Georgi. What’s wrong?”

“Huh?” Georgi shot five feet up into the air. Once he’d recovered, he shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong. Why do you think something’s wrong?”

“You keep staring at Anya but you won’t ever go talk to her. Faint heart never won fair lady! You have to go talk to her.”

“I can’t… Anya’s too… isn’t she dating her partner?”

“Christov? No, he’s gay.” Viktor would know. He’d slept with Christov a couple years back. He’d offered to invite Anya, too, but Christov had said no. “The chemistry’s all for the performance points. Off the ice, they barely talk to each other. They like each other fine, it’s just that skating’s all they’ve got in common.”

“Oh. Still. She’s way out of my league.”

“She is not! What does that even mean, out of your league?” Was that a compliment or an insult or just some kind of bizarre excuse Georgi was using not to talk to the pretty girl?

“It means a girl like that can do way better than me.”

“And if every guy interested in her thinks that way what happens? Come on! You should at least let her know you’re interested. Maybe she has a different opinion?”

“She won’t.”

“How do you know if you don’t talk to her? It’s not that hard!”

“Of course it’s not hard for you! You’re Viktor Fucking Nikiforov, people fall all over themselves for the chance to get a smile or a wink from you, you could probably walk up to anyone and get a positive reaction. You don’t get a whole lot of rejection, and when you do, they’re nice about it. For the rest of us, the ones who aren’t fairytale princes living the dream, it’s a lot harder!”

“I get rejection all the time! And, before you say it, from people who are both interested in men and not currently in a closed relationship. It sucks, but there’s a lot worse that could happen. What’s the worst that happens if you talk to Anya?”

“She laughs in my face and tells everyone how pathetic I am.”

That sounded like some sort of movie moment, not something that anyone would really do. “Has that ever happened to anyone?”

“Yes.”

“You?”

“Yes. A girl I’d thought was a friend from school. I’d left school for skating and tutoring, but I never forgot my crush on her, and when she came to St. Petersburg for college I thought I’d give it a shot. She told her entire school how pathetic I was, or so it seemed.”

“Huh.” Okay, that one never happened to Viktor. The timeline sounded a bit weird... “You have tried again since then, right?”

“Nope. I’d loved her for years, it took a long time for me to even think of anyone else. Then I saw Anya, and, well… here we are.”

Oh. Well then. “I don’t know Anya very well, but I don’t think she’s going to do anything…” Viktor stopped himself. He didn’t know what Anya would do. One of the few things he did know about her was that her sense of humor sometimes verged on cruel. If she thought it was funny to humiliate Georgi, she just might do it. “Any girl worth your time and attention would never listen to her without giving you a chance. Come on. Just go talk to her.”

“I can’t. I’m scared.”

“Don’t be scared. I’m right here! If she’s cruel, which I don’t think she will be, I’ll get Yuri and we’ll get some revenge. He’s a devious little monkey for only being eleven.”

“He is, isn’t he.” Georgi got to his feet. “All right. I’ll… I’ll go. Wish me luck.”

Viktor watched from across the room as Georgi approached Anya and Maxim. Maxim excused himself from the conversation quickly. Viktor couldn’t hear what Georgi and Anya were saying to each other, but Anya was smiling and twirling her hair, and if that wasn’t interest, Viktor would fake an injury and give Georgi the next Russian championships.

Then she touched his chest, and Viktor could almost see Georgi’s heart jumping out of his chest into her hand. The mental image was slightly disturbing, really, but the scene across the rink was beautiful. Now it was Viktor’s turn to be jealous. Just once, it would be nice to find someone who would smile at Viktor the way Anya smiled at Georgi, not because he was a living legend or a prince of the ice, but because they were interested in who Viktor was when the cameras were off and he could be himself. It had been so long that Viktor wasn’t sure he still remembered who Viktor was when that happened.

 

Three years later, Viktor saw the warning signs. He tried to warn Georgi, but Georgi wouldn’t listen. He just accused Viktor of jealousy, which… fair enough. Viktor backed off, and then forgot all about it when Typhoon Katsuki blew through his life in Sochi. It wasn’t until Typhoon Katsuki had swept Viktor off to Japan that Georgi finally saw the truth, and he called right away. “What do I do, Viktor? She destroyed my life!”

Finally, a coaching question he could answer. “You rebuild. You pick yourself up off the ice and you land that next jump so perfectly that everyone, even you, forgets about the disaster. You make your next performance better. You be glad that at least you know where you stand, that she’s not throwing horribly mixed signals at you anymore.”

“What?”

Viktor shook his head to clear it. He'd wandered. “Sorry, that last one may be wishful thinking on my part. Things in Hasetsu… not exactly what I expected, Georgi. At least you know.”

“Is he really worth it all? You know if you came back, Yakov would forgive you and forget you ever left after he’d taken it out on you on the ice.”

No thought necessary, not after Onsen on Ice. “He’s worth it.”

“Even if he thinks Eros is some sort of pork cutlet bowl that Yuri won’t stop going on about?”

Of course Yuri had spread that around. Of course. Still, he would defend Hiroko's katsudon against anything. “Come out to Japan and try it for yourself and you’ll understand why he’s so in love with it.”

“Maybe after this season. I think Yakov’s about ready to kill the next person who so much as shows up ten minutes late for practice after Yuri’s little stunt. Thanks, Viktor, I think I know what to do about my problem. I hope you figure yours out.” So did Viktor. He needed to find a way to get Yuuri to open up to him...


End file.
